the goan I network
MARGAO
Construction workers, workers employed in city hotels, security guards, migrants doing odd jobs in the commercial capital et all - they all lined up in the Margao Municipal garden with one clear mission “ to return home in the first available train to their natives states.
Migrants also made a beeline in front of the South Goa district Collectorate building on Monday to get themselves registered in their bid to get to their homeland.
In fact, the day began with migrants swarming around the Margao municipal building early morning with the hope of registering their names for their onward journey. As their number swelled and since they could not be accommodated in the municipal building, the MMC got the process of registration of names in the adjoining municipal garden.
Initially, the MMC went about the registration process with asking the migrants to fill up forms, but since the process turned out tedious and with the applicants standing in a serpentine queue, forcing the security to shut the garden entrance gate to regulate the flow, it was later decided to get the names registered through an App.
MMC employees were seen assisting the workers to register the workers through the App, adding that the process via the App would help the government interact directly with the applicants.
Some of the migrants standing in the queue claimed they hail from the states of Jharkhand and Odisha and have been working in small hotels in the city-based hotels. There were others who claimed they were working as security personnel and construction labourers.
They pointed out that with the economic activity in the State disrupted due to Covid-19 lockdown and with some of the employers employing the no work, no pay policy, they have decided to return to their native states, not just to earn a livelihood on agriculture, but stay safe with their families. “We have no idea when the situation will stabilise and return to normal. Since the government is arranging special trains to transport the migrants, we too have decided to register since we do not know our fate if there is another lockdown in the State in the event of a spike in Coronavirus cases,” remarked a migrant worker from Jharkhand.
